THE PRESS BOX.

Ex-USOC exec calls for changes

July 14, 2002

Sometime next month Dr. Wade Exum expects to open boxes of documents that will identify U.S. athletes who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs but were not punished by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Exum is reluctant to take the drastic step, but believes it might be necessary to change what he called a "rotten-to-the-core system."

Exum, the director of the USOC's Drug Control Administration for nine years before resigning in June 2000, claimed the USOC, in its quest to win medals, evaded its responsibility to discipline athletes for using banned substances. He also maintained that half of all athletes who tested positive for drugs were not punished.

A month after resigning from the USOC, Exum filed a lawsuit claiming USOC leaders hampered his anti-drug battle and denied him promotions because he is black. The USOC has denied the allegations.

The drug-testing documents could be made public within a week after a pretrial conference in Denver on Aug. 5.